Industry giants promote employment opportunities at city jobs fair

Jobseekers will have access to hundreds of vacancies at the annual Progress Through Positive Partnerships jobs fair in Aberdeen next week.

A wide range of sectors are taking part in this year’s event, including retail, hospitality, oil and gas, care, local government, security, transport, engineering, hospitality, and sport. Exhibitors include high profile organisations including Fugro, Petrofac, Peter Vardy, Hollister, Argos, B&Q, Entier, First Bus, Scottish Prison Service, Paramount Care, Mecca Bingo, TGI Fridays, Aberdeen City Council and the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership.

The Aberdeen City Council-led Progress Through Positive Partnerships employability project has again joined forces with the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver the event, which will take place on Wednesday (11 September) at the Town House.

Representatives of the hiring organisations will be on hand to speak to prospective applicants about the roles on offer. Some firms will accept CVs and written applications on the day, while others will require job seekers to apply online. Keyworkers from employability charity Pathways will be on hand to give application support and CV advice.

Richard Sweetnam, Aberdeen City Council’s chief officer for City Growth, said: “The range and size of businesses represented at this recruitment event, alongside the number and variety of jobs offered across key sectors, paints an optimistic picture reflecting the scale of opportunity and demand in the city. The participation for a second consecutive year of major energy businesses like Petrofac and Fugro is particularly encouraging and evidence of the growing optimism we are seeing about the North Sea, while the participation of significant players in other sectors show confidence in the city and opportunities for work and development.

“Our Regional Economic Strategy and Local Outcome Improvement Plan clearly recognise that a prosperous future for Aberdeen is reliant on giving citizens opportunities to fulfil their potential and improve their lives, while developing the skills base to power our prevalent and growing industries. Progress Through Positive Partnerships is one strand of several pieces of work being carried out to invest in people and training to develop and strengthen the city’s workforce, create more jobs, and contribute to the North-east’s international competitiveness and sustainability.”

Department for Work and Pensions partnership manager Kirsty Jarman said: “We continue to experience high levels of demand from employers for the annual Progress Through Positive Partnerships jobs fair, which continues to attract thousands of job hunters and which consistently receives positive feedback from businesses, not only about the volume, but also the calibre of potential applicants visiting their stands.

“There are hundreds of jobs available across a broad spectrum of industries, at various levels within the hiring organisations offering a wealth of choice to job seekers. These include full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary posts.

“The jobs fair is an ideal occasion for job seekers to find out more about the options available to them, and what the businesses are looking for from applicants, giving them a stronger chance of securing a job. This represents a great opportunity not only for businesses to recruit staff, but also for job hunters to get a foot in the door. There will be facilities to complete application forms on the day, and support will be available to those who want it.”

Space will be available for job seekers to fill out application forms. Visitors to the event, which will run from 10am to 2pm, are encouraged to bring copies of their CVs.

Part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), the project, forms part of the City Centre Masterplan.

Progress Through Positive Partnerships is a £2.2million project, which secured £880,000 from the European Social Fund to deliver training and employability support to eligible people in the city.